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"The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has always been considered a bastion of cool for the young and hip," wrote Los Angeles Times reporter Lorrain Ali, "So what, exactly, are classic rock staples Steely Dan...doing at the top of the bill opening night Friday?"

While some critics and festival-goers complained that Coachella was going dad-rock, Walter seemed to want to remind everyone that some dads can still kick your young ass. Some dads are cool enough to be playing Robert Downey Jr.'s big party over in Santa Monica.

Even if their usual shows were packed with admiring baby boomers, Becker certainly knew his audience here, referencing festival tropes like "guys out there sucking on pacifiers" during his rap. In turn, an audience that might not have expected to dig these old guys went home knowing that "your little tree has been shook, and that your world has been rocked."

The Beacon Theatre became, by far, Steely Dan's most played venue. In front of a home-town crowd, Walter and Donald felt free to experiment with their live format, offering up complete albums (Aja and Gaucho) and of course the legendary rarities night on September 17, 2011, where they played songs they had never released that the audience still somehow knew by heart.